The present invention relates to a work table having a metallic cutting base for an automatic cutting installation, particularly a very-high-pressure fluid-jet cutting installation, on which materials are cut by means of non-mechanical cutting tools. It relates more particularly to a metallic cutting base which has an interrupted top surface.
Federal Republic of Germany AS 28 13 498 discloses a device for cutting a stack of flat material with a jet of fluid. The disclosure of this and all other prior art materials mentioned herein is incorporated by reference. The cutting base of this cutting device consists of thin support plates which are vertical and parallel to each other and have a cutting-edge-like surface. Such a honeycomb-shaped support-plate structure is conventionally known, for instance, by the name of "honeycomb" and can be easily produced from aluminum.
The wall thickness of these support plates must be as thin as possible in order to avoid splattering the impinging jet of water and thus wetting the material being cut. Because of the high energy inherent in a jet of fluid, a cutting base of aluminum is subjected to very extensive wear, so that, for reasons of economy, it cannot be used in the textile or leather-working industries where such cuts are carried out frequently one after another and the numerically controlled cutting jet is moved continuously over the same places.
It is not possible with practical manufacturing techniques to produce such a honeycomb structure from steel plate. The wall thickness obtainable by stamping or boring is not sufficiently thin to avoid back-splashing effects.